


time is an ocean, but it ends at the shore

by egeria



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egeria/pseuds/egeria
Summary: it's azula's sixteenth birthday. zuko wants to cry.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 383





	time is an ocean, but it ends at the shore

**Author's Note:**

> i've felt moved to write about these two. also, i'm very much an only child, so i really did try to write siblings as best as i could.
> 
> i didn't even proofread my papers in college, so this is definitely not proofread.

_ We grew up together _

_ From the cradle to the grave _

_ We died and were reborn _

_ And then mysteriously saved _

_ ~~ _

It was her sixteenth birthday. He didn’t know if that made him want to vomit or cry. Maybe both.

Zuko awoke with this knowledge at the forefront of his mind, and as he stared out the window at the rising sun, he felt a lump growing in his throat. Azula was now the age he was when his life turned around. That fateful year when everything seemed to fall apart, and then fall (mostly) back together.

His eighteenth birthday had been just three weeks ago. Sometimes, when they were younger, they used to share a birthday celebration, pretending they were twins. But then Zuko was seven and a disappointment to his father, so that all stopped.

Last year, for his seventeenth birthday, he’d been on Ember Island training the Avatar. For her fifteenth birthday, she’d had a mental breakdown in the hospital. Thinking about it, he hadn’t seen his sister on her birthday since her eleventh, five years ago. 

Rising from his bed, Zuko quickly writes her a letter. Brief, to the point. He wrote to her occasionally, just to check-in. She never responded. He was okay with that. 

_ Happy birthday, Azula. I hope you’re doing well. Let me know if you need anything. _

He gives it to a hawk, instructing it to take it to the hospital Azula was at. It was more of a comfortable home on the seaside, really. With intensive therapy. Very intensive.

From what Zuko had heard, she was improving, whatever that means for her. Technically, Iroh received the updates, given that Azula was still a minor in the Fire Nation and Iroh was her only living adult relative. Even as the Fire Lord, Zuko technically couldn’t be her guardian until he was twenty. Not that he thinks he’d ever really want to be. He’s her brother. That’s it. And if you ask him, he doesn’t ever feel like a great brother.

Zuko watches the hawk fly towards the hospital. He still feels a bit nauseous. He definitely feels like he’s about to cry.

He doesn’t.

~~

Around noon, the Fire Lord is sat in his office, his head in his hands, his good eye twitching. He’s been reading a lengthy report that he can honestly only somewhat decipher. He has a meeting with an ambassador from the Earth Kingdom in half an hour, and after that a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture in regards to the rice output from one of the southern islands, and after that a meeting with-

The hawk returns, a letter in her mouth. The hawk Zuko sent to the hospital this morning.

“Oh,” he says.

Zuko stands to retrieve the letter. He stares at the hawk suspiciously, as if this is just a ploy or a rude joke bestowed on him by the spirits. The hawk stares back impassively.

He opens the scroll. 

_ Thank you, Zuko. Happy belated birthday to you.  _

Zuko gives in and sobs.

~~

It’s night, now, and he is on his bed, reading up on the latest updates to the curriculum. He tries not to bring his work to bed. Uncle says it’s bad to bring work into the bedroom. But, well, he wanted to sit somewhere comfortable. So, here the Fire Lord sits, in his bed, in his pajamas, reading the new updates to the de-propagandized curriculum.

He can’t focus. His eyes wander to his desk, and namely, to his stationary. 

Would another letter be too much?

She probably just responded to this one out of kindness, right? Or obligation? Manners?

Fuck it, he decides.

_ Thank you. Did they provide you with a peach tart? If not, I can bring you one. Consider it a late present for the last five birthdays. _

Agni, he hopes she still likes peach tarts. He goes over to the hawk. 

“One more trip?” He asks.

The hawk seems to roll her eyes, but she goes.

~~

Zuko awakes to a hawk in his window. There’s a response.

_ You’re annoying. But a visit would be acceptable. With a peach tart, if you’re able. _

~~

She’s sitting on a blanket overlooking the ocean. Zuko sits next to her, placing the peach tart in between them.

“I didn’t even take a bite,” he says as a greeting.

She’s leaning back on her hands, her hair in a bun. Not as clean and precise as she used to have it, but isn’t that half the point of this? She glances over at him, her gold eyes searching his face, looking for something. He doesn’t know what, but he never really does. He stares back at her, his features calm, his eyes examining her as well. He doesn’t know what he’s searching for, either.

There are another few moments of silence before she breaks the eye contact and takes the peach tart. She takes a bite while looking out at the ocean.

Zuko looks at the ocean with her. 

They sit in silence, only accompanied by the sound of the ocean hitting the rocks below them and the gentle beach breeze. It’s comfortable. Eventually, they end up slightly leaning on each other. Azula decidedly does not offer him a bite of the tart, but he doesn’t really care.

“Next time,” Azula says, slowly. Zuko makes sure not to startle. He hasn’t heard her voice in so long. “Can you bring a pineapple?”

He smiles. “Of course.”

She looks at him again, and he looks at her. She doesn’t exactly  _ smile _ , but her lips at least quirk, before she goes back to looking at the ocean.

Zuko wonders if she feels as free and light as he does at this moment. He looks back at the ocean.

The peace envelops them again.

**Author's Note:**

> title and epigraph is from bob dylan's song "oh, sister". it's a beautiful song, and i'd encourage everyone to give it a listen.


End file.
